Disclaimer: Mary Margaret's quote is taken from 'A White Rose' by John Boyle O'Reilly. It's a sweet little poem, perfect for Rumbelle, I feel.

Note: I forgot to thank the guest reviewers at the beginning of the last chapter, so here's double thanks in lieu! Warning: Implied sex references towards the middle of the chapter. Sorry about the delay folks, sometimes these things just can't be helped. I had a nasty cold and then a family emergency had to take precedence.

Shout out to a lovely lady who gave me valuable advice during this chapter and the next couple. You know who you are.

Carrot Cake

Chapter Thirteen

Gold pinched the bridge of his nose. He really couldn't afford to get a headache now, because popping pills in front of clients was somewhat frowned upon as unprofessional. The woman sitting on the other side of his desk was simply too much to be believed. If it wasn't for the dull ache in his knee and the threatened pounding at the back of his skull, he'd say he was dreaming. By the time she'd been talking for ten minutes, he genuinely pitied the poor soul who'd married her and paid for her plastic surgery, and he was wondering why he'd ever become a divorce specialist. Mrs Morton was out for everything she could get, and whilst she was technically the injured party, Gold couldn't say he blamed her husband for running away with another woman. It was only the thought of her two children, sitting quietly in the corner of his office and trying desperately to ignore what was happening, that kept him going. They were obviously living in something tantamount to a miniature battlefield and that, Gold thought as he wearily continued to make notes, was why he had become a family lawyer. He let his prospective client gabble on for a while, keeping an eye on the younger occupants of the office. The girl had clamped her hands over her ears, and Gold shook his head.

"Mrs Morton, may I suggest we adjourn this consultation until a time when your children are not present?"

"I know, I shouldn't have brought them really, but it's so hard to get a decent babysitter these days, especially in the after school hours. I'm sorry, are they being a problem for you?"

"Not at all, they're behaving impeccably, but I'm concerned that your daughter is getting quite distressed by the proceedings." He nodded over her shoulder to the corner behind the filing cabinets where the children were ensconced. She twisted in her seat.

"Oh, Lily, what's the matter, love?"

But before the girl could answer, Mrs Morton's phone rang, and Gold's teeth were set on edge. It was one of his little irritations; he always switched his mobile off and redirected his desk phone during consultations and he expected the courtesy to be reciprocated. Unperturbed by his expression, she fished the phone out of her bag and answered it.

"Hello, John," she said icily. "Yes, I'm at the solicitor's. I'm sitting in his office right now, actually." Gold fought hard not to roll his eyes. He hadn't agreed to take the case yet. "Oh, for crying out loud, I'm hanging up now, we're wasting Mr Gold's time."

Oh no, Gold said to himself coolly. It's not my time you're wasting. I charge by the hour, so please feel free to continuing arguing in my presence. I'm being paid for it. He got up and made his way over to the children, leaning on the cabinet.

"Hello," he said to the older boy, who was doing his best to comfort his sister. "I thought I'd have a bit of chat with you whilst your mum's engaged. What's your name?"

"Freddie."

"Is it always like this, Freddie?" Gold had learned, in his twenty-five years of practising divorce law, that one could often gauge a relationship best by asking the children.

The boy grimaced.

"All the time. Even in public - especially in public. It's horrible."

"Have they spoken to you about what's happening?"

"A bit. Mum and Dad are splitting up and fighting over us."

Gold nodded. It was a true, if blunt, summary.

"Have you thought about who you would like to live with, if and when it comes down to it? It doesn't matter if you don't know."

The boy shrugged.

"I don't care, as long as they stop arguing. Lily wants to stay with Mum though."

"And you want to stay together, presumably."

He nodded.

"Right, I'm sorry about that." Mrs Morton hung up and threw the mobile back into her handbag with a certain degree of vehemence.

"Mrs Morton, I have considered the facts of your case," Gold said, returning to his desk. "And I would be unwilling to take it unless you resign yourself to its failure in its current form. Compromises must be made if you want to avoid a very prolonged process. It will be easier for both parties, and for your children, and it will be infinitely cheaper, to make your terms slightly more reasonable."

The woman's eyes flickered to the door.

"My colleagues would say the same," Gold said levelly. "You are perfectly at liberty to choose another firm if you wish, but you won't find another practising family specialist in the town at the moment."

In other words, if I say it will fail, it will fail.

Mrs Morton's eyes narrowed. Gold shrugged and continued.

"Just stating a fact. If you accept those terms, then I suggest we make an appointment to discuss your petition later in the week. I also suggest that you try to leave your daughter at home, for her sake."

"Right." The woman was a little shaken up, and if Gold was being brutal then she needed it. They shook hands, and Gold escorted Mrs Morton and her family to the landing. He caught Lily's eye.

"Chin up," he whispered.

Her mouth twitched in a near-smile, which was the best he was going to get. He watched them leave; Kathryn locking the door behind them. It was five o'clock and the office was officially closed. Regina and Sid had both disappeared off early having had no appointments, but everyone else remained, tidying up, finishing last minute paperwork. Gold went back into his office and shut the door, getting out his paperwork and settling himself in his chair again. It was Monday, which meant it was working late day. Gold had always adhered to the philosophy which stated that the more he got done on a Monday, the less likely he was to have to stay late on a Friday in a mad rush. It also gave him something to occupy his mind for the hour between his close of business and meeting Belle after hers. He could hear footsteps and swearing from upstairs, so knew that he was not alone, even if the middle floor had fast become deserted in the twenty minutes after closing time.

Gold peered under the desk at the yellow roses hidden there somewhat nervously. Having made his second trip to Fairest Flowers in three days and assured Mary Margaret that she could tell the entire world and his dog that these were definitely for Belle if she so wished, he could only hope that he'd made the right choice. Ordinarily he would have been canny and chosen a different shop, but the idea was a spur of the moment one during his lunch hour and the only other florist he knew was on the other side of the town.

Mary Margaret had said that she would only tell people if asked, and had proved most helpful.

"Belle loves roses," she'd said, "but she grew up with floristry so she's cursed by always reading into the meanings of flowers." She'd led him through to the buckets of roses and pointed out the colours.

"There's an old poem that sums it up pretty well: The red rose whispers of passion, and the white rose breathes of love; O the red rose is a falcon and the white rose is a dove."

Gold had decided against red or white. The sentiments were genuine, but the message was strong, and he didn't want to overwhelm her.

"Yellow roses generally symbolise friendship and goodwill," Mary Margaret had said. "They're inherently positive. And yellow and blue are Belle's favourite colours, but I haven't got any blue roses. My advice would be the yellow."

Gold had taken her up on it. She'd selected four of the brightest blooms and arranged them around an olive twig – "peace offerings are always appreciated"– before tying them with simple twine. They'd been sitting in a mug of water under his desk all afternoon.

His head was becoming harder to ignore so he opened his desk drawer and emptied it of medication, trying in vain to remember when he'd last had what pills and whether he could mix prescription and over-the-counter painkillers. He was just trying to work out whether he was in danger of exceeding the maximum dosage when his desk phone – reconnected since his secretary had left for home – rang. Gold picked it up and leaned back in his chair, still pouring over labels.

"Guildhall Law, Mr Gold speaking."

"Good, you're there." It was Regina, brusque as usual. She sounded rather breathless. "Are you busy?"

"That depends entirely on your definition of 'busy', Ms Mills." He struggled to make out the noise in the background on the other end of the phone. It sounded like Sidney, but rather more incoherent than usual.

"Good. I've just had a call from a client…" Regina went on to describe her predicament, saying that on any other occasion she'd handle the unexpected problem herself or get Marina to do it, but Marina wasn't there and Regina herself was slightly tied up at that point in time, and could Gold possibly step into the breach?

"From your breath rate and the mumbling in the background, I can tell why you're too busy to handle this yourself, and I would have thought that, being accurate, it was Mr Glass who was tied up. Congratulations on your reconciliation, by the way."

"Oh, shut up," Regina snarled. "Will you do it or not? It's way past closing, you can't have much on at the moment."

"Neither can you and Mr Glass, from the sound of it." Gold glanced at the clock, it was almost time for him to leave to meet Belle in the cathedral green after the café closed at six. "As much as I have to admire the audacity of the woman who phones one colleague to bail her out of trouble whilst entertaining another one in her bedroom, I have a prior engagement this evening."

"I told him I'd get this sorted tonight!" Regina hissed. "It's one piece of paper, for crying out loud!"

"Never make promises you can't keep, dearie. Now, I suggest you get your knickers on and get down here to pick up your paperwork before it's too late. Whether you untie Mr Glass before you leave is entirely up to you. I'll see you tomorrow."

Gold put the phone down, slightly alarmed when someone outside his office burst out laughing. He opened the door to find Marina bent double, practically howling.

"That was priceless!" she gasped.

"According to Regina, you aren't here," Gold pointed out.

"I was in the archive box," Marina said airily. Gold raised an eyebrow. That explained the swearing from upstairs earlier. "My mobile's off, so as far as Her Majesty knows, I'm not here. I was just coming to tell you that I'm off now so you'll have to lock up everything."

Gold pulled his coat off the hook on the back of his door.

"I too am off very shortly, Miss Tempest. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Have a good evening, Mr Gold. And thank you for the entertainment."

"You're welcome."

Gold collected the flowers from under the desk.

"Here goes nothing."

X

Belle looked up at the clock on the wall and groaned before resting her head in her hands. Fate hated her. That could be the only explanation for her finding herself in her current position.

"Belle? What's up?"

Ashley's fingertips brushed Belle's shoulder-blade, evidently trying to provide some comfort, but she couldn't reach any further. The poor woman had been in labour for the past five hours and was still able to find it in her to worry about Belle.

"Nothing, nothing, you just focus on not having the baby until Sean gets here."

"Belle, I don't believe you-ARGH!" Ashley swore violently as another contraction ripped through her. "Take it easy!" she moaned to her stomach once she had calmed. "We aren't ready yet! Your daddy isn't here and Belle's upset so hang on a minute."

"An hour ago you were screaming for someone to 'get this baby out of me as soon as humanly possible'," Belle pointed out.

"I'm pregnant, and I won't be for much longer. Let me use the mood swing excuse whilst I still can. So come on, tell me what's up. It'll take my mind off everything."

Belle sighed, still not looking up.

"I made a date with Gold to talk about everything that happened on Saturday and I should have been at it two hours ago. I was never going to leave you on your own, but I haven't told him what's happened. When I had the chance I'd clean forgotten in all the excitement."

"Oh, Belle, I'm so sorry, I had no idea…"

"Ashley, you're giving birth unexpectedly two-and-a-bit weeks early. You haven't exactly orchestrated this on purpose."

"Go and phone him now, before it's too late. You need to patch things up. I'll be ok on my own for a bit. If anything dramatic happens you'll probably hear me yelling from outside anyway."

Belle looked up and smiled weakly. Ashley returned the expression with a lot more enthusiasm.

"Thanks."

"No problem. Now scoot!"

Belle left the maternity unit and moved through the hospital towards the entrance, thinking of the events that had led her to her situation and proved that fate really did have a thing against her.

She'd swapped her shifts with August so that she could have a full day to prepare, not that it had helped in the slightest, as when three o'clock had come round, she'd still had absolutely no idea what she was going to say past 'I'm really sorry'. At three o'clock, however, her phone had rung, and on picking up she discovered a very panicked Ashley on the other end, near hysterical because her contractions had started. Sean was at work and she couldn't get in touch with him until his shift ended, and Belle had been her next point of contact. Dutifully, Belle had dropped everything and rushed over to help, in that moment utterly blind to everything else. Including her meeting with Gold.

She reached the door and turned her phone on. She had three missed calls from Gold, but he hadn't left her a message. Immediately, Belle hit redial.

"Come on, pick up," she murmured. "Please pick up."

The phone rang and rang until voicemail kicked in.

"Gold, it's Belle, I'm so sorry I missed our date, I'm at the hospital with Ashley. She's having her baby, it was an emergency. I'm so sorry."

There was no point in asking him to ring her back. She'd have to switch her phone off again when she went inside. Belle stared down at the mobile in her hands. In that moment, although she'd always prided herself on remembering details, she couldn't remember his landline.

She tried Sean again on the off-chance he'd come off his shift early, but no luck. Finally, in an act of desperation, she rang Ruby. Ever reliable when it came to being on hand on date nights, her friend picked up after two rings.

"Hey, how did it go?"

"It didn't," Belle said grimly, and explained the situation.

"Oh, Belle… What do you need me to do? I can't really go anywhere at the moment because Granny's at bingo and the buses have stopped till the night service starts, but I can ring people up for you."

"I need you to find Gold's landline number in the phone directory and…"

"Belle…" Ruby's voice was soft and apologetic. "Belle, the directory's older than four months. He won't be in there."

"Oh."

"Have you got his address? I could call directory enquiries, I think their records are more up to date."

Belle shook her head.

"I don't know it."

There was a long pause, and Belle closed her eyes.

It was official. Fate loathed her.

"Belle, if you left him a message then he'll understand, you can't do more than that. Listen, I'll get Granny to drive us over as soon as she gets in from bingo. We can give you a lift home if nothing else."

Knowing how long bingo lasted, and knowing Granny's tendency to chat afterwards, and knowing how long it would take a pensioner in a very old Ford Fiesta to drive from Station Road to the hospital, in the dark, Belle could work out that Ruby and Granny wouldn't be arriving until close to midnight. But she'd come in the ambulance with Ashley and didn't have the money for a taxi, so a free lift was not to be sneezed at, whenever it came.

"Thanks, Ruby. I just… I can't believe all this is happening! Today! Why doesn't fate like me?" she moaned.

"Because fate is a sod," Ruby said helpfully. "Hang in there, Belle. We'll be there as soon as we can. See you later, chickie, and I'm only on the other end of the phone if you need me."

"I know. Thank you. I'd better get back to Ashley. She's putting a brave face on it but I can tell she's terrified."

"You go and give her moral support, then. Chin up, Belle. Bye."

"Bye, Ruby."

She looked down at her phone, giving it five minutes before she gave up and went back inside.

The curtains had been drawn across in front of Ashley's door when Belle arrived back in the maternity unit. She knocked cautiously.

"Ashley?" she called warily. A nurse poked her head round the curtain.

"Are you Belle? There's not a problem. Ashley's water broke about ten minutes ago so we were just changing the bed linen. You can go back in."

Belle peered into the room.

"Honestly, I leave you alone for half an hour."

"Yep. You missed all the fun." Ashley's tone was light but her eyes were scared. "It's all happening so quickly. Where the hell's Sean?"

"Don't worry," Belle tried to reassure her friend. "When my mum had me, there were still six hours between her water breaking and me screaming."

"Six hours!" Ashley threw her head back against the pillows. Belle perched on the edge of the bed, and Ashley took one of her cold hands.

"How was it?" she asked. "Did he understand?"

"Couldn't get through," Belle said. "I left him a message."

Ashley squeezed her hand.

"He'll understand. He couldn't have got to where he is in his career without some understanding of human nature, and your friend giving birth is a pretty extreme excuse to use to get out of a date." She gave a tired smile. "I know it'll be fine. And you should believe me more than anyone else prophesising, because unlike them, I know both of you and your quirks." She paused. "I hear my temp hasn't run away traumatised yet."

"Not yet, but Gold and Sid are working on it."

"I'm impressed, and in debt. I bet with Marina it would only be four days. She's been giving me office updates." Ashley raised an eyebrow. "I was right about Sid and Her Majesty, you know."

Belle shook her head.

"I'd have to see it to believe it. Actually, I don't particularly want to see that."

They stayed talking for a few more minutes when suddenly, Sean's voice could be heard in the corridor.

"Ashley? Ashley?"

Belle peered round the door and waved. Sean skidded over, and stayed staring at them for a while.

"It's all right," Ashley prompted. "You haven't missed the birth."

"But you rang me to say you were having the baby six hours ago!"

"Sean, you came to ante-natal with me. You know how long it can take."

"Yeah…"

Sean sank into the chair beside the bed to get his breath back. Ashley laughed.

"Oh, come here you worried thing. I'm so, so pleased to see you. You have no idea."

Belle left the couple to their own devices. There wasn't much she could do now except wait for Ruby and Granny, so she went outside to switch her phone on. Just in case Gold had tried to ring her back.

There was nothing.

It was a cold night and Belle's teeth were beginning to chatter, so she had to concede defeat and come back inside. She made her way back up to the waiting room in the maternity unit, finding herself a seat in one corner next to the vending machine and watching over the occupants, sitting and pacing alternately. After a couple of minutes, Sean came in.

"Thanks for everything, Belle."

"No worries. That's what friends are for."

"Ash told me what you missed. I hope it all works out."

Belle looked down at her phone, still in her lap even though it was off. She determined to check every hour. Just in case. Sean couldn't be hoping harder than she was.

To be continued